Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a gain of 11 points at the opening bell. Asian shares eased on Thursday as investors turned increasingly cautious as hopes of stimulus action by central banks thinned ahead of a European Central Bank's meeting later in the day and after the US Federal Reserve took no action a day earlier.
State Bank of India (SBI) and the National Scheduled Tribe Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) on Wednesday, 1 August 2012, signed a Refinance Agreement for channelizing concessional loans to the Scheduled Tribes.
Ambuja Cements on Wednesday said its cement dispatches rose 1.25% to 16.97 lakh tones in July 2012 over July 2011. Cement production rose 1.13% to 16.87 lakh tones in July 2012 over July 2011.

Nirma Ltd’s proposed merger with Saurashtra Chemicals Ltd (SCL) has been given a go-ahead by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). (BL)
DLF said that it is targeting to raise around Rs.30bn from sales of its 17.5 acre prime land in Mumbai and the deal is expected to close this quarter. (BL)
Tulip Telecom Ltd has got a Rs.0.87bn order from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for hosting data centre space(BL)
Uninor said that it will auction its business and assets in a bid to get maximum possible returns for its investors (BL)

It was the fourth straight trading session on Dalal-Street which saw the Indian equity markets end with gains.
After no surprises from the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday where the apex bank kept key interest rates unchanged, frontline Indian indices closed flat in a rangebound session today.
Today’s modest gains were seen despite overnight losses in US markets and select Asian markets. Market did manage to gain ground in the mid afternoon trades. Profit booking in the Metals, Oil & Gas, Oil & Gas and select Telecom stocks kept those gains in check.
The broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices as the Mid-Cap and the Small Cap stocks which were badly beaten down witnessed some bargain hunting. The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1% while the BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.1%.

My brother, someone who I know I can always depend on! - Catherine Pulsifer
The fatigued markets are searching for some positive cues they can depend on. Nothing seems to come by really expect a hope that some policy actions will be taken in the near future. Power outages and bomb blasts are leading the headlines these days.
US indices closed lower after the Federal Reserve maintained status quo on its economic policies. Of course it was a day of yet another instance of algorithms going wild. The New York Stock Exchange said it is investigating trading activity in 140 stocks.

Key benchmark indices eked out small gains after witnessing intraday volatility. The barometer index, BSE Sensex, rose 21.20 points or 0.12% up close to 68 points from the day's low and off about 35 points from the day's high. The Sensex and the 50-unit S&P CNX Nifty attained their highest closing level in almost 2-weeks. The market breadth was strong. Small-Cap and Mid-Cap indices on BSE outperformed the Sensex. Provisional data showing that foreign funds remained buyers of Indian stocks on Tuesday, 31 July 2012, underpinned sentiment.
The Sensex has risen 617.56 points, or 3.71% in the past four trading sessions from a recent low of 16,639.82 on 26 July 2012. The Sensex has jumped 1802.46 points or 11.66% in calendar 2012 so far (till 1 August 2012). From a 52-week low of 15,135.86 on 20 December 2011, the Sensex has risen 2121.52 points or 14.02%. From a 52-week high of 18,523.78 on 22 February 2012, the Sensex has lost 1266.40 points or 6.84%.